Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives an update on the government's measures to help Canadians with the effects of COVID-19 pandemic from Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Mar. 23, 2020. Andrew Meade/iPolitics

“We made strong commitments to move forward with that rapidly,” Trudeau said at his daily briefing on Tuesday.

The RCMP is continuing to investigate 16 separate crime scenes sprawled out over more than 100 kilometres of rural Nova Scotia related to the killings, which began late Saturday. The suspect, a 51-year-old Dartmouth man, is believed to have driven a replica RCMP vehicle and set fire to multiple homes along the route, before he was killed at a gas station near Halifax early on Sunday.

The RCMP has not disclosed details about what weapons were used by the gunman.

“The tragedy in Nova Scotia simply reinforces and underlines how important it is for us to continue to move forward on strengthening gun control in this country,” Trudeau said.

The prime minister said his government was prepared to table a bill that would ban military-style assault rifles in Canada before Parliament had to take an emergency recess because of the pandemic.

“We were on the verge of introducing new measures to restrict assault type weapons in Canada before Parliament was suspended because of COVID-19,” Trudeau said.

The House returned from its five week break – with the exception of its two emergency sittings – yesterday, and agreed to hold one in-person sitting of a new COVID-19 special committee each week, as well as two virtual sessions.

The House procedure and affairs committee is meeting by videoconference today in the early stages of putting together recommendations on how remote sittings conducted virtually could function. Some concerns expressed at the committee’s first meeting about how to make non-typical sittings work were about how MPs in remote locations with technological limitations could participate and how the security of the online version of the chamber could be insured. The committee is due to report its recommendations to the House by May 15.

Springtime is typically one of the busiest periods for Parliament. Before its temporary COVID-19-induced suspension, the House had been scheduled to sit for nine of the next 13 weeks.

Asked if the Nova Scotia attacks would prompt any changes to his government’s gun control policies, Trudeau responded that he expects the assault rifle ban to be one of “the first measures we bring forward” when the House resumes regular sittings.

“Now we are looking at what the right time will be (introduce) that bill. But, we will take the necessary time to make sure we do things properly,” he said.

Along with their promise to ban all military-style assault rifles, the Liberals have also vowed to introduce a government buyback program. According to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s mandate letter, the government’s intention is to accompany a buyback program with a two-year amnesty period, which in other jurisdictions has allowed people to hand over guns without fearing facing any legal repercussions.

Blair weighed in on imposing stricter gun control laws on Monday, saying his intention is to “bring forward that legislation as quickly as possible.”

Asked if given what happened in Nova Scotia the government would prioritize it over other bills – such as a ban on conversion therapy and changing medical assistance in dying laws – Blair said “all of those things are priorities.”

Trudeau was not directly asked how strengthening gun laws compared to his government’s other non-COVID-19 priorities.

The assault rifle ban is just one of the Liberals’ gun control campaign promises. The party also vowed to give municipalities the ability to put their own limitations on handguns, and update storage and licensing requirements for firearms.